NSCIA slams Ekiti governor on Buhari’s appointments

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Ekiti State chapter, has slammed Governor Ayodele Fayose for criticising President Muhammadu Buhari’s political appointments.

The governor, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Lere Olayinka, said of 31 persons appointed by President Buhari since May 29, only seven were from the South.

Fayose described the appointments as lopsided and “tinted in ethnic and tribal colouration”, stressing that “if such step is not checked, it will threaten the unity of Nigeria”.

NSCIA, in a statement by the Chairman, Sanni Yakubu Olaide, berated Fayose for his criticism, saying: “Fair as this observation may appear, we feel it may interest the public to know what this governor that is now calling the kettle black is doing in his own state”.

They accused Fayose of lopsidedness in appointments, saying he had appointed only four Muslims so far, representing 0.05 per cent of the 80 political and career appointments, “representing 80 per cent of the total appointment he intends to make, compared to that of Buhari, who has appointed less than 20 per cent of his political appointees, of which 22.5 per cent are southerners.”

While conceding to the governor, his right to criticise President Buhari on equitable distribution of political offices, the NSCIA urged him to correct what it called lopsided appointments, to give the people freedom of expression he enjoyed under the President.

The organisation lamented that while Fayose did not consider it fair to appoint Muslims into political offices, he appointed his son as his personal assistant, bringing to five the number of people appointed from his home town, Afao-Ekiti, “when most big towns are yearning for one appointment.”

NSCIA recalled that Muslims, at different times and under different democratic governments, were elected and appointed as deputy governors, secretaries to the state government, chairmen and members of statutory boards and commissions, special advisers, permanent secretaries, chairmen and members of parastatals, among others.

It said it wondered why the governor thought what the Muslims deserved in his government “is one special adviser, one of the 16 council caretaker committee chairmen and one member of the House of Assembly”.